Weight of History
by Little-Firestar84
Summary: Hidden in the shadows, the Doctor witnesses the birth of the Dark Phoenix, already knowing what will be of her and of the universe. He knows he has the power to stop it from happening, but he doesn't. It's not his palce to.


Title: Weight of history  
>Rating:T to be on the safe side of things. Mostly, a K+ things, though.<br>Fandoms: Doctor Who (10)/Uncanny X-men (Claremont's generation)  
>Words:1093<br>Summary:" He should, but he knows he actually can't, and it breaks his heart, but still, there's nothing he can do about it"  
>Notes: set during the Rise of the Dark Phoenix back in 1980, and sometimes after Donna's departure for Doctor Who. could be considered an AU. Also, show mercy. It's my first Doctor Who work...<p>

There's a part of him that thinks he should interfere, he should just come back of a couple of days, maybe a week, and avoid Jean Grey from falling so far under the influence of the man named Jason Wynegarde, the man who'll, unwillingly, write the destiny of humankind.

He should, but he knows he actually can't, and it breaks his heart, but still, there's nothing he can do about it; because of this man and his "partners of the Hellfire Club, this group of men and women, these heroes, will suffer, be through pain and loss and mourning, and because of this day, this planet will not be the same any longer, in good and bad. Mostly in bad, but, still, who he is to change the future of humanity, the future of a whole Universe, of the whole creation, even?

He is the Doctor, he is the one with the power and the knowledge, always cursed to stay out of fate's way, always witnessing, never being a willing participant, never, ever a fully one. He has all this knowledge, and still, he looks ta everything, waiting for things to happen, without stopping them, because he simply can't. Sometimes, he feels like a watcher, just like right now.

He'd like to close his eyes, but he knows he can't, he knows it would be futile. He already knows the story, he already knows the words, but he still has to hear them, he still has to stay hidden the three, clenching his teeth while Jean Grey- or, at least, the one the X-Men think to be Jean Grey- face the redhead, an aura of fire all around her body, her eyes turned black while she grins at them, her former friends and her lover, her laugh evil and maniacal while she speaks in a voice that's not her own, words coming from somewhere far, far away, a dark place of pain and destruction and fear, and so much more.

"Listen to me carefully, X-Men. I'm not the woman you used to know any longer. I'm fire and life incarnated, from now on, I'm Phoenix… beware the birth of a goddess!"

He feels the bile rising up in his throat, and somehow, he thinks he can feel the agony these people will go through in the next years, maybe even for the rest of their lives (because this day will change history). He sees the pain, their pain, for Jean Grey was a young woman, brilliant and extraordinary for her beauty, her strength, her courage and her passion, a mutant, a telepath and a telekinetic, a founding member of the X-Men. She was, but now, all that sued to be is gone, and they know it. And he does as well.

She attacks her team-mates, destroy everything she touches, condemning the ones she loved the most, not any longer a woman, but the angel of death, terrible in her inhuman beauty, pure and majestic like the stars in the sky. She grins, and with a single touch, she could incinerate them, but she doesn't. She plays with them, and with every single second, their sufferance increases. Still, he does nothing, not because he doesn't want to, but because he can't.

She grins as the woman she called her best friend falls on the ground, delighted in the pain she just caused, because, like she just told them, Phoenix doesn't have pity, like she doesn't have friends, not any longer, she says goodbye, not with tenderness, but with cruelty, like she was telling them it's not their time yet, but their time will come, or stating that they aren't worthy her attention any longer; flames caress her skin, her red and gold costume like the fingertips of a tender lover, and stating that her place is now among the stars, she disappears, flying up in the sky as a giant bird of pure fire embraces her.

She isn't Jean Grey any longer, she isn't Phoenix any longer. she is Dark Phoenix, a starchild but yet human, a creature whose defects and inner conflicts are slowly killing her from the inside out, menacing not only the poor human soul, but the entire universe, because as she says farewell for one last time for her native planet, she flies, up, up in the sky, ready to fulfill her deadly and dark destiny. And she knows. She still remembers who she sued to be, and she knows what she has become, what she is turning into, but, still, she doesn't care. She just wants for Dark Phoenix to live, and that all the create is at her complete disposal to do as she prefers.

Still, he doesn't stop her. He could, but he will not, because this is not how things were supposed to be.

In a matter of days, she'll consume a sun, a yellow star still young, and with its destruction, she'll destroy an entire star system as well, just to sustain herself and her growing powers; she'll be captured by the most advanced alien empire of the time, and she'll go, along with her team-mates, through a number of tests just to testify she was Dark Phoenix no more… and she'll kill herself, scared to turn into the monster again, and because billions of people died, and someone had to pay, the responsible, her. The X-Men will suffer, will mourn. Scott Summers, her lover, will fall in love with a woman who'll be Jane's exact copy, just to discover, years later, that she'll be a clone named Madeline created so that they could gave birth to the most powerful mutant of all the times, and the man known as Colossus will always feel guilty for not having stopped Jena when he had the chance to. And that's only the beginning; star empires will get interested in the planet, and will eventually make contact because of the Phoenix, and in few years' time, a new Phoenix will see the light, and the world will know of the mutants (even if it will not be always roses and flowers).

Almost nothing good will come out by the presence of the Phoenix on Earth, mostly sufferance and pain and grief, and more sufferance, pain and grief. But, still, he doesn't act, stays motionless watching what's going without acting (he thinks he can hear Donna's voice in the distance, so far, far away, reprimanding him, and his mind flies back to another time, another place, Pompeii).

He walks back to Tardis with another weight added to his soul.


End file.
